When Draco Stood
by Alexa Skywalker
Summary: After his failure to kill Dumbledore, Draco knows he must do whatever it takes to secure his family's position—and their lives—in the eyes of the Dark Lord. But when Potter saves Darco's life during the Battle of Hogwarts, when he should have left Draco to burn, Draco knows that the clear-cut sides he's always believed in may not be how the world truly looks.


Hello readers, new and old! I am super excited to introduce my very first Harry Potter fanfic, _When Draco Stood_. It's also the first story I've dedicated, this one to my little sister, who adores Harry Potter, was one of the first readers for this fanfic, and who helped me come up with the title. :)

This story is set in the movieverse, _Deathly Hallows: part 2._ It starts near the end of the movie, the scene in front of Hogwarts, where Draco is standing with the other students and his parents beckon him over to join the Dark Lord's side.

* * *

"Come, Draco. Come on."

He stared at them, his family—friends, aunt, parents—all standing side-by-side, just behind the Dark Lord, beckoning him with their eyes. His mother even reached out her hand, begging him closer. _Come, darling. Come home._

One foot stepped forward—but the other held firm to the stair behind him.

"Harry Potter saved my life tonight." The words found themselves out of his head and into the air, and he didn't know how but it didn't matter because still more were coming and he couldn't seem to stop them. "After all I did to him, after all I _was_ doing to him, Harry Potter saved my life."

His father's eyes grew dark. "Draco..."

"I'm sorry, Mother, Father." His traitorous foot stepped back, standing firmly with the other one. "But I finally know whose side I'm on."

For half a second, everyone—Death-Eaters and Dumbledore's Army alike—stared at him, speechless. For half a second, some of Harry's friends smiled at him. For half a second, Draco actually felt... _good_. Like he'd _done_ something good, something worthwhile, for once in his life.

But then the half-second was over.

"Why you little!" Bellatrix exclaimed. "Avada Ke—"

"NO!"

Draco blinked, and it was over. His aunt had finished the spell, but somehow, he was still alive. Somehow, it was his father who lay dead at Bellatrix's feet.

Draco's mother let out a whimper. He might have too; he didn't know for sure. All he did know was that he was somehow still standing there, frozen, staring at his father's wide-open eyes. They were staring at him—_right at him_—but he knew they didn't see him, and it seemed to Draco that his own eyes would never see anything but his dead father's.

Something icy and wet trickled down his cheek.

"A valiant and moving speech." Voldemort tapped spidery fingers together. "But you see, don't you, that refusing me leads only to pain and suffering?" He gestured to Draco's mother fallen over his father's body, and then to Draco. He felt it, that pain, that suffering, wrenching his heart into pieces.

But still he stood.

"Now with that fitting demonstration," Voldemort went on, "have any further volunteers?"

Neville Longbottom shuffled forward. He spoke, but Draco didn't hear him. He just stared. But he stood, too.

Harry Potter came back to life and everyone else jumped into action and it seemed as if the whole world was racing about, around him, around his mother, around his dead father... But still he stood.

Only once everyone else had disappeared into the castle and the sounds of dueling and death stabbed his mind, did he notice the icy-cold wetness in his eyes, slithering down his face. He stumbled forward. His mother looked up at him then; he flinched, expecting to see the accusations from his own heart sparking in her eyes. But all he saw in her was love—love and anger.

"Go," she whispered, throwing him a wand. "Go!"

And suddenly, he knew who he was after.

He raced inside, fighting through the throngs of people, deflecting spells, dodging death, running and searching, looking for one.

Bellatrix.

* * *

He found her fighting Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Hermione Granger. "Expelliarmus!" She called and the wands flew out of all three girls' hands. She pointed her own wand as they backed away. She was going to kill them.

Like she killed his father.

"Sectum sempra!" It sounded like the curse Potter had used on him a year ago, but it didn't seem as powerful. Wounds opened on his aunt's chest and blood dribbled red on the blackness of her dress, but as she turned around, she was laughing. Always laughing, his aunt. Always laughing for the wrong reasons.

"Come to get me, daddy's boy?" she sneered. "For taking care of your useless father? You were weak. All of you wea-!"

"Sectum sempra!" He shouted it again, and more flesh opened up, serrated by an invisible knife. Blood rushed down her bodice, but still she laughed. "Oh Draco, darling. It's like I told Harry: you have to _mean_ them. And you're entirely too like your father for that."

She smirked at him, and her wand rose. Draco knew what she would say when the wand pointed at his chest, and he knew that she would mean it when she said it.

So he thought of his father's empty gray eyes, staring into nothing, and he said it first. "Avada Kedavra!"

_Whoosh_! The green light shot from his mother's wand, a power like he'd never felt emanating from the tip. His aunt's eyes were wide as the spell slammed into her chest, then they were empty, like his father's, when the green disappeared.

Hermione, Luna, and Ginny stared at him.

But Draco simply stood.

* * *

From across the room, Harry saw Draco, sitting alone, staring into space. Ginny had told him how Draco had saved their lives, and he felt like he should… maybe thank him? Or something. Perhaps apologize since his father had just died. They were alike in that way now, him and Draco.

So he went over. "Hello."

Draco's head shot up and the sneering look leaped in his eyes… but it faded just as quickly, as if he were too tired to put on the mask. "Hello."

It was probably the first time in seven years Draco had said something so civil.

"I... uh... I just wanted to say I'm sorry about your dad. And um... thanks for helping Ginny and the others. With Bellatrix."

Draco didn't say anything; he wouldn't even look at Harry anymore. Harry paused for several awkward seconds. He'd started to walk away, when he heard Draco's voice behind him. "I didn't do it for them you know."

Harry turned around. "I know."

"I did it because..." he trailed off, then dashed his hand across his face as if angry that his eyes dared allow him to cry.

"I know." Harry took a step forward. His hand danced just above Draco's shoulder—down, up, down, up—before finally, he patted him once on the back and walked away again.

* * *

Back to Hermione.

Back to Ron.

Back to Ginny.

He watched Potter walk back to his friends and he thought about his own. Crabbe had died—and not just _died,_ he'd been burned alive. He didn't know where Goyle was, or if Goyle would ever speak to him after his display in front of the castle. As far as friends went, Draco didn't have any others.

And his parents... He thought of his father's eyes and the pain shot through him again, and he wondered for a moment if he'd made the wrong choice. But then his mind went back to the moment when he could've died but Potter had saved him, and that half a second when he'd known he'd done the right thing for the first time in his life. The tiniest of smiles slipped onto his face.

For he knew that, given the chance, he would still stand.

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed it and please review! :D**


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